Introduction

Lamptron SM436 PCI Fan and LED controller review

Back in October, Lamptron officially introduced something that may bring old-school fan controllers back to popular use. The SM436 PCI RGB FAN AND LED CONTROLLER - BLACK is the full name of this product. What does it bring to users? Will this product bring Lamptron back to the mass market? 

Nowadays many cases include a fan hub, and many users rely solely on the fan control provided by the motherboard (I used to be one, too). Another thing is the appearance of the fan controllers. They usually look outdated and out-of-touch with modern PC gear design. You also can’t forget about the fact that cases usually no longer have a 5.25” bay (when was the last time you used DVD?), so that makes using typical fan controllers out of the question. So, what is the idea here with the Lamptron? 
The SM436 Case Controller looks modern, with a color LCD display. It can be mounted on the PCI slots (you’ll need three of them), which is a great idea in the era of the chassis with tempered glass panels.

The cover of the control unit is made of acrylic glass (not the most durable material available). The device enables you to control fans (no surprise here), with four channels available for the fans (with/without PWM), and up to 36 watts per channel (so that should be enough even for custom liquid pumps).  What’s more important in the modern era, you can also control RGB lighting with this device (which is an innovation in this sector). There are four headers for up to 60 RGB LEDs (12VRGB) and also four ones for digitally addressable RGB LEDs (5VDG). All this is powered by SATA and Molex connectors from your PSU. What more? Well, you can control the unit via a provided infrared remote (batteries not included, 2 x AAA). Overall the features look very interesting. Let’s see what this baby can do in reality, shall we?